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It’s all too common to see an office turn into a disorganized storage unit of its own. How is one expected to work efficiently when their desk, filing cabinets, and even the surround floorspace is covered with unused supplies, old but important papers, and other miscellaneous items? If you’re facing this problem, fear not. These easy steps will show you how to use a rented unit for storage so your office will be decluttered for work.

Take Inventory

Before you can declutter your office, you have to take a step back and recognize what’s causing the clutter in the first place. Take an inventory of everything in your office, and organize things into three categories: items you need on a regular basis, items that can go into storage, and items that you can throw away.

Take Action

Now that you’ve been honest with yourself about what you’re using and what you’re not using, you can begin the purging project. Shred and recycle all of the papers that you no longer need to keep. Donate any supplies or electronics that might have made it to your “throw away” list. Stop by your local office supply store to pick up plastic bins where you can organize the papers and supplies that you want to keep, but don’t need regularly. As you pack away these items, be sure to label the storage boxes in the project and update your inventory list accordingly. This will help you find what you need later.

Rent a Storage Unit

With all of your smaller supplies and papers packed away neatly, it’s time to put them out of sight and into storage. If you’re planning to store important documents, a climate-controlled storage space will keep these items protected from damage. Other larger, less fragile items like office furniture can safely go into a non-climate-controlled unit. Move your items into your new storage space, and mark their location in the space on your inventory sheet.

Put the Office To Use

Now that your desk and floor are uncluttered, you can use smaller bins and trays to keep the things you need on hand nearby in an organized manner. Be sure that you keep your inventory sheet on hand too. That way you’ll know exactly where to look when you need to fetch something from your storage unit.

When the warn weather returns, there are always a few slight changes in our lifestyles. For one thing, we no longer need to spend ten minutes bundling up before we run errands. We can start exercising outside, and we might change the types of meals we’re cooking. This annual transition is always made easier with a little intentional home organization. These tips will help you organize for spring.

Swap Sweaters for Sun Dresses

After months of heavy layering, it always feels good to put away the sweaters for another warm season. What’s even more satisfying is getting sweaters, wool pants, heavy winter coats, and other cold-weather items out of the house all together. All items should be cleaned before storing, then kept in a space that’s 70 degrees or below, with low light and low humidity. Garment bags are great for coats, while sealed plastic bins will keep sweaters and shirts safe. With those things in storage, you’ll have plenty of room for your warm-weather clothing at home.

Adjust Your Home to the Flow of Spring

Now that your overcoats are in storage, your coat closet will have space for your light jackets. This is just one way in which you can adapt your home to go with the spring flow. Place an umbrella rack by the door to keep wet umbrellas off of the floor and there when you need them. Hang a three-tier fruit basket in the kitchen for quick access to fresh produce from the local farmer’s market. Purchase some colorful baskets and bins where your kids can store their outdoor toys when not in use. Solid home organization is all about anticipating what you will and won’t need in your day to day life and finding a place where it can be easily accessible and out of the way.

Sometimes Halloween comes to remind us of how creepy and cluttered our life has become. I use Halloween every year as a reminder to clean up and get ready to receive all those guests during thanks giving and Christmas and create space for all the new things, thinks and memories we need space for.

Halloween also tells us that we are going to set the clock back and that it is time to bring out all those heavy jackets and comforters that we so gladly put away last spring.
I use three bags and start with my closet…

I call them the green bag, red bag and blue bag
In the Green bag I place all those clothes and trinkets that I will use next year…summer shorts and T shirts and all those clothes that call out “sunshine”.

The Red bag is my gift bag… I place all those clothes that I want to give to someone who may not be as blessed as you or I and who would love those flip flops to wear at home or all those clothes you think you will not use.
The Blue bag is the my “maybe” bag…all those clothes that don’t fit but still carry a lot of memories. I cannot get myself to give my first marathon T Shirt away….ha ha!

Take the same bags to the kitchen, the shoes closet and to your study and do the same thing.
I sometime come back to the closet and will find more to go into these bags.

I usually do this after I am done. I take them to a self-Storage unit so that its out of my house and out of sight. Self-storage units typically have small units that will fit these bags and whatever else you want out of the house easily.

I will then wait for a month to see if I miss any of the things I put away in the red bag. By that time it is after Thanksgiving and I take the red bag to my favorite charity and feel good coming back to a clean uncluttered home every day and that someone is going to use all those things I could never use again.
So let’s get the holiday spirit started early !!!

This is a great time to declutter your home before the summer vacation, the camps, and the swim lessons.

Here is the golden rule of cleaning and clearing: use a timer. Start with an alarm for 30 minutes. At the end of 30 minutes, put away whatever you have do so far and pick another day and time to come back to the job. This will keep you excited about cleaning and clearing.

Start with an area you use every day, like your closet.

The best way to store sweaters and coats is in plastic totes. If you don’t have plastic sealable bins, cardboard boxes will work too.

WASH WASH WASH

Before storing your winter clothes, wash them. All the stains of winter coffee and snow muck will have less of a chance to sink into the fabric of the garment if you wash and dry them. This will also make it unappetizing for moths. Wash everything in hot water if the wash instructions on the garment allow. After drying well, make sure there are no remnant dampness in the garments. Once dry, fold sweaters tight rolled and place them in sealable plastic totes with a bag of lavender or a few blocks of fresh cedar to keep moths away and smelling wonderful when you take them out in six months.

For jackets, while it is best to hang them, you can fold them and lay them in plastic boxes with lavender.

If the boxes are not transparent, label them.

You can store your clothes in the basement or maybe in a compact climate controlled self-storage facility that can become your walk-in closet away from home.

CHARITY…

Start a charity carton…

Once the carton is maybe half or completely full, move that away from the area you are working on and start a new carton. Do not seal these cartons.

Always wash these give-aways before donating them.

Do not give away a box of winter clothes in spring or summer. Ideally store them until it gets cooler in your basement or in a climate controlled self-storage facility near you.

Start again the following day or week and work for 30 minutes or an hour again. Suddenly in a month you will see your closet clean and every time to come back to clean you will find you can get rid or store away more….and you will have a neat and well organized closet in 30 days. When we try and do it slowly we appreciate what we have and enjoy the journey more than the destination.

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Cherokee Self Storage is happy to call the Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky metropolitan area home. Our Eight locations conveniently straddle the Ohio River to serve the Tri-State area from Centerville, OH to Independence, KY.